Re: Rethinking the utility of netnews "cancel" control messages

[stu@nemesis (Stuart Smith)]

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In article <v02110105ac99c03922dd@[204.179.132.4]> you write:
>The downsides of having the mechanism (especially unauthenticated) we see
>now: official and unofficial squelching of articles that someone doesn't
>like for whatever arbitrary or situational reason.

You miss an important point in the mechinism - individual sites *choose*
whether or not to pay any attention to cancels.  Theoretically, they could
be configured to only listen to cancels from certain places etc etc.  By all
means these should be authenticated, but it is vital to remember that this
is still (for now..) an anarchy.  I don't have to honour anyones cancels,
and if I do, and you don't like it - you don't have to get a news feed from
me.

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